During a recent editorial board meeting at the Courier-Post, Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez ( D-Camden) was asked about Sen. Wayne Bryant's ( D-Lawnside) $270,000 contract to represent Camden City in eminent domain matters against residents. Under the agreement, Camden taxpayers are footing the bill for one of their representatives in Trenton to aid their city in removing them from their homes.

So how did Cruz-Perez answer the editorial board’s question? She said: "I think it's a conflict of interest" Finally a politician that is willing to state the obvious, even when it places a member of her party in a bad light. Good for Cruz-Perez, right? Well, not quite.

"The city of Camden and the 5th Legislative District is blessed to have Wayne Bryant as our senator," reads a written statement handed out by her campaign manager. "He is my friend and colleague, and I believe he acts at all times appropriately and with the best interests of the district and the city of Camden."

What happened to the “conflict of interest’? "(Cruz-Perez) called me personally and told me she was misquoted," Bryant said Wednesday in Trenton.

Claiming someone has been misquoted or quoted out of context is the ready excuse of politicians and their supporters. People are willing to buy the excuse, because the media has so often been guilty of slanting the news, twisting words and quoting people out of context. This is one of the reasons we often note, saying or printing something doesn’t make it so. What are the facts?

Cruz-Perez did say she thought Bryant’s contact with Camden was a conflict of interest and the Courier-Post says they can prove it. You see her remarks were made in front of two reporters, an editor and a tape recorder.

"The facts are the facts, whether state Sen. Wayne Bryant, D-Lawnside, and Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez, D-Camden, like them or not." So says the Courier-Post. This is just one more example of a Democrat enriching himself to the detriment of the very people he is supposed to represent. And one more example of a Democrat willing to go out of her way and say anything to excuse fellow party member's actions.

The Democrats’ pretense of representing or helping the poor has been exposed one more time. Like it or not, those are the facts. Will our friends on the left admit there is a problem with the connected Democrats and their friends themselves to taxpayer dollars? Can they begin to understand why those on the right might object to the level of taxation, when everyday we are treated to yet another politician abusing the system and leaving crumbs for the poor? We will prepare for the worst and hope for the best.